The Downfall of Nero • 2017 • episode "S1E6" Eight Days That Made Rome

Category: History

On 9th June 68 AD, Nero, Emperor of Rome, took his own life with the help of a servant, as troops came to arrest him for crimes against the state. His death ended the empire's first dynasty and ushered in an age of anarchy and civil war. With the aid of evidence from across the Roman world, including Nero's Golden House, Bettany examines his reign, his character and his relationships with his mother Agrippina, the Senate and the Roman populace.

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

patreon.com

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

Eight Days That Made Rome • 2017 • 5 episodes •

Hannibals Last Stand

Bettany Hughes recalls eight pivotal days that defined the Roman Empire and its establishment as the world's first superpower. She begins by exploring the day in 202BC when Rome defeated the might of Carthage under Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in modern-day Tunisia "Eight Days That Made Rome is a docu-drama that leaves behind the conventional chronologies of Rome's thousand-year history and brings razor-sharp focus to eight days that created, tested and defined its greatness. Each programme works as a stand-alone, as strong in its own right as part of a series and reveals a Rome relevant to us today, with its noblest and darkest instincts still resonating in the world around us."

2017 • History

The Spartacus Revolt

In 73 BC, Spartacus broke out of gladiator school and started the most terrifying slave revolt in Rome's history. Visiting Pompeii, southern Italy and the British Museum, Bettany explores the importance and appalling reality of slavery in ancient Rome and how the revolt played a major role in shaping Rome's political future. She also reveals that not all of Spartacus's followers were slaves.

2017 • History

Crossing the Rubicon

Presenter Bettany Hughes explores the day in 49BC when, defying the Senate, Julius Caesar and his army crossed the river Rubicon, plunging the Republic into civil war. With the aid of the most recent archaeological finds and theories, she examines Caesar's character, his dealings with Crassus, Pompey the Great and Cicero, and how his quest for absolute power effectively sounded the death knell for the Roman Republic and paved the way for dictatorial rule.

2017 • History

The Downfall of Nero

On 9th June 68 AD, Nero, Emperor of Rome, took his own life with the help of a servant, as troops came to arrest him for crimes against the state. His death ended the empire's first dynasty and ushered in an age of anarchy and civil war. With the aid of evidence from across the Roman world, including Nero's Golden House, Bettany examines his reign, his character and his relationships with his mother Agrippina, the Senate and the Roman populace.

2017 • History

Theatre of Death

Bettany Hughes explores the day in 80AD when the Colosseum opened its gates for the first time. For new emperor Titus, the spectacular games and events were an opportunity to win over the people and secure his place on the imperial throne, but why did the Romans - cultured and civilised in so many ways - enjoy witnessing such brutality and bloodletting? Bettany travels across the Roman world in a bid to find answers.

2017 • History

You might also like

Part 1

Historian Michael Scott begins his journey through Sicily on the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano. For the ancient Greeks, the island was a land of gods and monsters - a dangerous and unpredictable world. Michael discovers how 3,000 years ago, the Greeks began to settle on Sicily's east coast - planting their olives and vines and building great city states that soon came to rival even Athens itself. He learns how great battles were fought between the Greeks and the Carthaginians for control of the island. How the Romans made it their first foreign colony and stripped Sicily of its forests to plant vast fields of grain.

S1E1Sicily: The Wonder of the Mediterranean • 2017 • History

In the Name of Allah

13th Century: After a unique triumph, Islam became the religion of many peoples - from Spain to Indonesia. But there was no Islamic empire, just as there was no Christian empire. Middle Ages meant: small states, wars of princes and tribes against each other. This episode covers the spreading of Islamic and Arabic culture, which was based on the use of military slaves: children of non-Muslim Turkic peoples were trained to become Islamic elite warriors. Their military triumph not only spread war and the new faith, but also advanced culture: medicine, art, architecture, astronomy - a unique blossoming of knowledge, culture and intellectual freedom penetrated as far as Spain. The real threat to Allah's earthly kingdom came not from Europe, but from the steppes of Asia. The Mongols attacked their enemies ruthlessly, devastatingly and invincible. In 1258 AD, Baghdad, the center of Islamic civilization, fell into their hands. Military conflict accompanied the spread of Islam during the Middle Ages. This program reveals the ironies of that union between war and faith: how Islam was adopted rather than marginalized by invading Mongols; how the rise of strict Islamic orthodoxy countered the scholarly advances of Arabic culture, weakening the empire; and how European appreciation of Islamic culture grew after the Christian 'Reconquista' of the Iberian peninsula. Interviews with respected scholars—including Drs. Raif Georges Khoury of the University of Heidelberg and Patrick Franke of Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg—illuminate key developments in Islam's Mediterranean dominance.

S1E3The Holy Wars: War and Religion • 2004 • History

Cunk on Earth

Landmark documentary-maker Philomena Cunk traces the history of Britain and the world, from the Big Bang to Brexit. Chapter 1: In the Beginnings Philomena Cunk travels the world, heading down caves and up mountains in her search for mankind's first moments. With the help of a variety of experts, she explains how the earliest societies were formed: from the easier ones to spell, like Rome and Greece, to the ones that are harder to spell, like Egypt and Mesopotamia. Chapter 2: Faith/Off Philomena Cunk tells the story of the birth of two of the world's great religions and learns what came next: the fall of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Crusades and Genghis Khan. So a bit of a rough patch for mankind, if we're honest. Along the way, Philomena asks experts hard-hitting questions about humanity's progress and stands on or near impressive old ruins and inside museums, before the shot cuts away to some archive footage of the bits that don't exist anymore or were too expensive to film at. Chapter 3: The Renaissance Will Not Be Televised Philomena Cunk visits the allegedly beautiful city of Florence to explore the Renaissance and interrogates experts and historians about the revolutions that went on to shape the modern world, including the American War of Independence and, to a lesser extent, the French Revolution. Chapter 4: Rise of the Machines Cunk continues her ambitious march across the face of mankind into an age of industry and science. With the help of historians, she explains the scientific breakthroughs of Marie Curie and Albert Einstein. She demonstrates the inventions that changed the world and covers how the American Civil War, World War I and World War II taught humanity how to use its new grasp of technology to shoot, blow up and irradiate itself in huge numbers. Chapter 5: War(s) of the World(s)? Philomena Cunk takes us from 1945 to the present day. She travels the world and meets top experts to examine the Cold War, the space race, globalisation and social media. The world's recent history is one of polarisation and division, as humanity divided itself down the middle – communism v capitalism, Apple v Microsoft, Beatles v Stones. Is humanity doomed to repeat the mistakes of history? Cunk does her best to find out.

2022 • History

JFK: To the Brink

JFK and the Bay of Pigs; on the brink of total war during Cuban Missile Crisis; early Vietnam; JFK's attempts at peace with Khrushchev; JFK assassinated.

S1E6Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States • 2013 • History

Air Travel

Since the earliest pioneers million commercial flights each year, discover how innovation, coach class, and sex have made our flying fantasies come true.of flight,we've dreamed of conquering the skies. From the first brave passenger flying across Tampa Bay in 1915 in a rickety rust bucket to 40

S1E8History By The Numbers • 2021 • History

Spartacus

Dramatised documentary revealing Spartacus as he really was - a brilliant leader of a guerrilla band, but a flawed and indecisive human being. Starring Anthony Flanagan as Spartacus and Robert Glenister as his nemesis, Marcus Licininus Crassus. 73 BC BC Spartacus is captured and ends up on the slave market in Rome. He is sold to a gladiator school in Capua - his combat skills quickly show. In his first official battle, Spartacus is forced to kill his opponent at the request of the people and their master. From then on he plans his escape - in the same year he escapes with 70 other slaves. The small uprising quickly turns into a bitter fight for the freedom of thousands.

S1E3Warriors: Great Men of History • 2007 • History